Eddie Redmayne is convinced his horseback scene in Les Miserables was payback for lying to director Tom Hooper about his riding skills on a previous TV project. The young Brit admits he was far from honest when he told the filmmaker he could ride at an audition for mini-series Elizabeth I, and almost killed himself in a charging scene in front of Jeremy Irons and Helen Mirren.
He recalls, "I left the audition and, as I was leaving, he (Hooper) said, 'One last thing Eddie, have you ever been on a horse?' And I said, 'Yes!' and I walked out. I had been on a horse when I was four and was mostly trying to get it to go!
"Cut to about three weeks later and we shot in Lithuania with this gigantic scene of this coup being staged and I was on a gigantic stallion with 14 Lithuanians' horses stomping behind me. At the end of this road Helen Mirren and Jeremy Irons are on a balcony dressed in full regalia and Tom Hooper is behind the camera and spurs were being attached to my feet, and I'm thinking at one point, 'Do I admit I can't ride?'
"I was too embarrassed to admit it and he (Hooper) calls, 'Action!' And I gave the horse a gentle nudge and it went off 100 miles an hour and I'm just holding on for dear life! I just heard, 'Cut!' And Tom Hooper arrived and said, 'You're a f**king liar!'
"From that moment I learned a lesson, because I was always taught that whenever you're in doubt at an audition, say yes. But I hadn't been taught that if you say yes and it's a lie make sure in the couple of weeks before filming you have elementary training; whatever it is!"
Hooper got his own back when he and Redmayne reunited for Les Miserables years later: "On day one all the revolutionaries were rehearsing together and Tom announced that my character, Marius, was gonna have to leap onto a horse whilst brandishing a flag!
"So that was my penance - my payback for that lie to him years ago."

Actor Kevin Spacey has been left amazed by all of the hard work that went into turning him into a video game star for the new Call Of Duty release, insisting the process was unlike anything he's ever done before. The American Beauty star agreed to loan his voice and image to developers at Sledgehammer Games, who recreated Spacey in graphics form to appear as protagonist Jonathan Irons, the unhinged leader of a global private military firm in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
Spacey signed on for the project before he had even seen a script and he admits it was a risky move, telling USA Today, "It was a leap of faith, because they were going to have me help them develop it as it went along."
However, the actor insists he thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the hi-tech process, which involved using high-resolution cameras to capture his facial features and moves on an empty soundstage.
And he is so in awe at the finished product, he has even started playing the game himself, ahead of its release next week (begs03Nov14).
He explains, "I'm not a gamer, I haven't played a lot, but I've just started to play this one...
"It was an incredible experience to do it. I think maybe I'm the third actor that's ever done it. I think Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe did it (a few) years ago, but now the technology is so incredible that you look at it, and it's me, only the way we did it is unlike any other experience I've ever had."
Describing the outfit he had to wear for the shoot, he says, "I'm wearing a black jumpsuit... they put dots on your face and that's a helmet that's got a camera on it that's now photographing my face, and there's about 50 cameras in an empty studio.
"Normally you go to make-up and hair and you come onto a set that they've built and you have props, but in this case, I literally like, I would stand on a box and they would say, 'OK, put your hand on this pole... like this, and then we want you to walk down those boxes to that chair, and then say your lines.'
"I go, 'OK', but I would look over to their monitor, where they had already rendered the world, to a certain degree, and I wasn't rendered yet, so I was just a figure in it, but no, I wasn't standing on a box, I was standing in a helicopter, holding the roof of a helicopter. I step off the helicopter, I get into a Jeep and it drives away. I'm like, 'What the f**k?!'"
Page and Dafoe starred in interactive action-adventure Beyond: Two Souls, which was released on the PlayStation 3 last year (13).

Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Upon hearing of Robin Williams' death, I witnessed many a friend attempt to choose his or her favorite of the actors' many terrific films... most of these attempts dissolved into chaotic indecision. So let's make it easier — while Williams' dramatic genius is well documented in pictures like Good Will Hunting and Dead Poets Society, his penchant for the dark and twisted well chronicled in Insomnia and One Hour Photo, we'll always have a very special place in our hearts for his comedy. As such, we limit our expedition to this realm: which is Robin Williams' funniest role?
There are a few candidates that leap out as frontrunners — Mrs. Doubtfire, for one. It's hard to top a film in which a grown man, disguised as a husky Scottish nanny, tosses a piece of fruit at Pierce Brosnan. But we'd be remiss to discount some of Williams' other laugh riots: He's delightful in the courageous and sharp Good Morning, Vietnam. He's outrageously kooky in the oddball dark comedy The Fisher King. And without even showing his face, he's a tour de force in Disney's Aladdin. Peruse the complete list of Williams laughers below, and then chime in with your feelings.
MRS. DOUBTFIREWilliams plays a newly separated father of three who dresses up like a kindly housekeeper in order to spend time with his estranged kids.Funniest moment: An unexpected run-in with the legal representative charged with determining his aptitude as a parent (and human being) forces Williams to dash from room to room, donning and shedding his Mrs. Doubtfire disguise, juggling accents and sticking his face in pies.
GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM Williams plays a 'Nam-based disc jockey keeps his Army base lively with his irreverent radio show.Funniest moment: Any one of Williams' rapid fire on-air bits (much to the chagrin of the stuffed shirts in charge).
THE FISHER KINGWilliams plays a delusional derelict who entertains Medieval fantasies years after the death of his wife.Funniest moment: Williams' forceful escort of new friend Jack (Jeff Bridges) across the street, completely unfazed by oncoming traffic.
POPEYEWilliams plays a live action version of the animated sailor on a perplexing and listless quest through the neighborhood of Sweethaven.Funniest moment: Williams' genius is in his sardonic murmurs; after every ridiculous affirmation by one of the lively Sweethaven residents, Williams will mutter something nearly unintelligible and certainly hilarious under his breath.
THE BIRDCAGE Williams plays a gay nightclub owner who is married to his star performer (Nathan Lane) and father to a notably ungrateful young buck (Dan Futterman) who brings his girlfriend and her conservative parents over for dinner... prompting Lane to dress up as a woman. We're noticing a trend.Funniest moment: In truth, Williams is the straight man in this picture, letting Lane take most of the broad, wild comedy. But he does have plenty of good deadpan one-liners to enjoy.
PATCH ADAMSWilliams plays a doctor who holds dear to the maxim that laugher is the best medicine when he makes it his mission to lift the spirits of his ailing patients.Funniset moment: That old lady squeezing noodles can't be beat.
ALADDINWilliams plays an all powerful Genie, tasked with the wishes (and friendship) of dopey street rat Aladdin when the latter discovers his magical lamp.Funniest moments: It's gotta be his entrance. Williams puts on a veritable stand-up routine when he meets "Al" for the first time in the dank caves below the desert.
Which is your favorite? Cast your vote!

WENN
Country superstar Keith Urban gave his wife Nicole Kidman the ultimate wedding anniversary present at a gig on Wednesday (25Jun14) when he dedicated a song he wrote about their relationship to the actress.
The You'll Think of Me hitmaker was onstage in Melbourne, Australia when he turned his attention to his wife of eight years, who was in the audience. After a fan shouted out "Happy anniversary!", Urban responded, "It is tonight. My wife and I are celebrating eight years of marriage tonight. And she's here tonight."
He then recalled a moment before their wedding, which inspired a track titled Once in a Lifetime. Urban said, "This is a true story... Nic and I had just gotten engaged in September of 2005. And we were planning our wedding, which was going to take place here in Australia, in June. "A couple months or so before our wedding, we were in our hotel and we were talking about the future and I could tell that Nic was getting very nervous about the thought of marrying me. It's a big thing you know. It's a big thing to get married. It takes an enormous amount of trust and a leap of faith."
The singer continued to reassure Kidman, who was previously married to Tom Cruise, that he was going to be "her man, forever", hoping there was a way to show her that he would never leave her side.
The day after their conversation, Urban hit the music studio and wrote Once in a Lifetime, which he dusted off for fans - and Kidman - on Wednesday.
He said, "This is called Once in a Lifetime. Eight years, baby girl, this is for you tonight my love; I love you so much."

Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
The reincarnative powers acquired by Tom Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow have their limits — after death, he is always "reborn" on the same day, in the same place, surrounded by the same oblivious galoots, forced over and over to make it past the same obstacles in order to do whatever it is the movie never really gets around to explaining he's supposed to do. Save the world, yeah, but the specifics are muddled beyond that. We get the feeling, though, that if Cruise himself could choose his point of rebirth, it'd be smack dab back in the middle of the '80s. And we're right along with him. Because one of Edge of Tomorrow's great victories is its ability to remind us of the Cruise we fell in love with way back when. The Cruise that could get away with being funny, kooky, smarmy, and kind of a douchebag. In this latest outing, that's exactly what he's going for.
Edge of Tomorrow is more than happy to return to the Cruise we met and loved in the era of Risky Business and Top Gun, accessing the sort of colossal camp that he, as a good-looking charmer, could sell as high grade entertainment. Well before Rain Man established him as an actor of true merit and the decade to follow slowly expelled him of this very reputation. As soldier-in-name-only William Cage, Cruise masters the art of playing too big for his britches. His swagger is unfounded, his double talk ineffective. Finally, that Tom Cruise smile (you know the one) is used for its rightful purpose: to highlight just how much of a cocky son of a bitch this guy can be. But this version of Cruise might stumble to a point of utter detestability if Edge of Tomorrow wasn't so eager to laugh at the classic Hollywood-caliber blowhard he puts on display.
Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection
The film's sense of humor and personability are what cart us through the science fiction premise with such grace: Cage is thrust into his first go at warfare against a race of malicious alien invaders, taunted and ostracized by his disapproving fellow grunts, killed almost instantly in the field of battle, and then reborn moments later (make that a day and a half earlier) right back at the military base where this whole mixup began. Never mind why — the movie does its share of explaining the science fiction behind Cruise's character's newfound abilities... with no dearth of logic holes, but you shouldn't get too strung up on that either — or even the specifics of the ultimate mission that he and a soldier sympathetic to his cause (Emily Blunt, who is sharp enough as an impatient war hero) adopt in order to save the human race from their extraterrestrial assailants. The only element to really strap into here is the fun: Cage struggling with the confusion, terror, monotony, psychological trauma, existential quandaries, and humors of living the same few days and scenes over and over and over, with the added bonus of an alien war comprising the backdrop to keep things quirky.
When the novelty of both the idea and all the plausible avenues of exploring it wear away, we're left with a far less riveting third act... not one entirely devoid of life, though one notably lacking in the spark and color that ignited Cruise's initial forays into this strange set of circumstances. The movie trades its earlier brand of innovation for the tropes of your standard action/sci-fi, though never entirely devolves all the way down to standard summer fare. In the end, Edge of Tomorrow doesn't wind up proving itself to be as tremendous a leap from the norm of today, but it's at least a few big steps. And that's largely because it seems to know what we've all been forgetting since 1985: science fiction can be funny, blockbusters can be kooky, and Tom Cruise can, and should, be a jackass.
3.5/5
Follow @Michael Arbeiter| Follow @Hollywood_com

Tom Cruise narrowly escaped a serious injury as a child when his attempt to emulate a stunt by daredevil Evel Knievel went horribly wrong. The Top Gun star was a big fan of the famed stuntman as a young boy, and he decided to recreate one of Knievel's famous canyon jumps in the late 1960s and early '70s.
Cruise set up ramps so he could leap over several trash cans on his pushbike, but his speedy descent down a steep hill ended in disaster when he careered into the bins and was left covered in blood on the sidewalk.
He tells U.K. talk show host Graham Norton, "I saw Evel Knievel jumping off a canyon and I lived on a steep hill so set up boards and trash cans to copy him. I was about eight years old and my sisters begged me not to do it, as I had been to the hospital a few times by this point.
"I realised halfway down the hill that I couldn't stop and it was too late to bail - I was committed and I thought I'm going to go so far and so high but of course the boards split and I ended up just pile-driving through the cans. It was violent and there was blood everywhere. My sisters were standing over me with no sympathy, just, 'We told you. You're in so much trouble.' My poor mother! She was very patient."

Rogue Pictures via Everett Collection
While most of America spent Memorial Day weekend embracing the coming summer, Marvel had a falling out with one of its directors, and sending what was once their most promising project into creative jeopardy. On Friday, Edgar Wright stepped down as director of Marvel's Ant-Man, citing creative differences with Marvel on his vision for the project. Suddenly, the Ant-Man project looks a lot less interesting.
Our excitement about the upcoming Ant-Man film wasn't so much focused on the hero finally making the leap to the big screen, but for the creative force bringing him there. Wright is a genre film wonder who has spent his career crafting excellent spoofs on everything from horror to cop movies to alien invasions. It was exciting to think what the writer/director could have done with the superhero film. Edgar Wright seemed ordained to direct Ant-Man. It was the perfect meeting of concept and creator. Who else could handle a character as outwardly ridiculous as Ant-Man: a scientist who fights crime by shrinking to the size of a pea or growing to the size of a skyscraper? Ant-Man had been a labor of love for Wright, whose connection to the superhero film had been going on eight years. This clearly wasn't a simple direct-for-pay gig for Wright. It was something that would likely retain the same careful attention to detail and heart that flowed through every one of his previous works. In tribute to a director that has given us so many great moments over the years, we've rounded up the moments that exemplify Edgar Wright's talents for different aspects of filmmaking.
SATIRE
Each film in Wright's Cornetto trilogy is a love letter to a different subset of genre filmmaking. The zombie flick, the buddy cop movie, and the alien invasion film all get the piss taken out of them through subsequent films. Wright had a special way of handling genre spoofs, not only unraveling the conventions and cliches of a given genre, but also embracing them too. In this scene from Hot Fuzz, Wright takes the foot chase, a standard cop film trope, and turns it into comedic gold. It takes all of the cliches of the ubiquitous foot chase (sudden obstacles, every police officer's sudden and expert knowledge of parkour) and turns them all on their heads. It's like he's saying, "Hey, action movies are really stupid, but they're also a ton of fun."
COMEDY
Shaun of the Dead, the first taste of Wright's Cornetto trilogy, is perhaps his funniest film to date. Wright's deft handling of comedy is most perfectly illustrated in the "Don't Stop Me Now" scene towards the end of the film. The sequence is a hilarious frenzy of zombie action. Lines like "Kill the Queen" and the music synching to the beating of pool cues against zombie flesh are absurdly funny.
ACTION
With Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Wright took Brian Lee O'Malley's series of graphic novels, work drawn and written deeply in the language of manga and video games, and transposed it into the world of film. It's an adaptation that shouldn't have worked, but does so beautifully. The hyper-stylized version of Canada feels coherent, despite all the madness, and the action scenes are fast, fluid, and nicely choreographed, with pixelated point counters blazing the screen and enemy foes collapsing into loose change after being vanquished. Just like that, a comic that should have been un-filmable is brought to life like it was drafted for the big screen in the first place.
ABSURDITY
One of the reasons that Edgar Wright's films are so enjoyable is because the worlds he creates often barely conform to any rules, often bending reality to suit a gag. Absurdity is a well-used device in Wright's toolbox, and his willingness to let things get weird has given us so many terrific scenes like this one from his television show Spaced. Here, a back-alley confrontation inexplicably turns into a bloody finger-gun shootout with enough pretend viscera to rival Saving Private Ryan's D-Day scene.
HEART
SPOILER WARNING: The following clip gives away the ending of The World's End.
Perhaps his most mature film to date, dealing with themes like depression, PTSD, addiction, and the terrifying thought of growing older, The World's End exemplifies better than any of Wright's other films just how in touch with his characters' emotionalities he really is. With the fertile grounds of superhero allegories in his hands, Wright might well have worked cathartic wonder.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @CurrentlyJordan
//

20th Century Fox Film
The Star Wars franchise has tons of fantastic moments, but none spike our adrenaline quite like the attack on the Death Star right at the climax of the original Star Wars. It was all so perfect: the perilous dogfights in the backdrop of a giant red planet Yavin, X-wings bursting into flames as the pilots thread their ships through the crowded ridges of the Death Star, looking for that tiny exhaust port to blow the Empire a new one. It's one clear example of why the original trilogy works where the prequel trilogy doesn't. The scenes felt weighty, both in a physical sense (those ships really did look like big metal chunks hurtling through space) and a dramatic one. The rebel squadron was fighting the battle of their lives, and this mission was a last ditch suicide run to take out the Empire's doomsday device. The space combat in the prequels never reached the same dizzying high points as the ones in the Original Trilogy did, since the franchise traded practical effects, character, and drama for a CGI light show. Nearly 40 years and five movies later, the Battle of Yavin and the other fights involving the Red Squadron remain some of the action highlights of the franchise. Now, It looks like the X-Wing team may fly once again.
According to Geek Tyrant, a German website named Star Wars Union attended a Hasbro event where the next six Star Wars films were mapped out to coincide with the company's toy releases. The schedule was reported as follows:
2014 - Star Wars: Rebels2015 - Star Wars: Episode VII2016 - Boba Fett2017 - Star Wars: Episode VIII2018 - Han Solo2019 - Star Wars: Episode IX2020 - Star Wars: Red Five
The schedule is mostly filled with the expected sequels and stand alone films — rumors about Boba Fett and Han Solo features have been rumbling around the web for ages at this point — but the one surprise on the list is the last project: Star Wars: Red Five. Since an annual deluge of Star Wars films has become an inevitable evil, one about the famous squadron of fighter pilots could be a nice way to break up the monotony once 2020 rolls around. We're already getting three proper "Episodes" in the mainline Star Wars series, plus two stand-alone films about roguish anti-heroes. A character-based film about rebel pilots using the classic call signs from the orginal movie could be an exciting move for the franchise. There are already a multitude of possibilities.
The call sign "Red Five" already has some famous forebears. Both Anakin and Luke Skywalker used it in previous instalments of the franchise. If this new story coincides with the upcoming J.J. Abrams trilogy, then we could be getting a new group of fighters with an all-new protagonist taking up the mantle of "Red Five," and what the Star Wars franchise desperately needs is new characters. If this new generation of movies really wants to flourish on its own merits, it needs to create its own stories within the universe. As fun as it will be to see prequel adventures for characters like Han and Boba Fett, it would be more fruitful for the series to create new characters and conflicts. Seeing a Star Wars feature that takes a step away from series standbys like The Force, the Jedi, midi-chlorians, and even, (gasp) lightsabers would be a refreshing change of pace. There's a wide and diverse galaxy out there, full of different planets, cultures, and outlooks on life. The old Star Wars canon should be used as a template; a foundation to expand and construct a richer universe in its wake. Creating a new class of pilots to take on the famous "Red" call signs would be a great way to do so. It would be recognizing and revering the franchise's roots while allowing it to leap into the future.
Also, when was the last time we were treated to a really good fighter pilot movie? Red Tails? Flyboys? Stealth? Pearl Harbor? No, those are all terrible, and it's a testament to how anemic the sub-genre of pilot movies is when the best offering in perhaps the last 25 years is Top Gun. Get to it, J.J., our culture's lasting image of fighter pilots can't be Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer playing shirtless volleyball. It just can't.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @CurrentlyJordan
//

Hollywood action man Sylvester Stallone had to fight to bring Rocky to Broadway as many of his peers deemed the idea of a boxing musical "absurd". The Demolition Man star has spent 15 years working on the project and the show will finally open at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City on 13 March (14).
Stallone admits he can't wait for opening night as Rocky's road to Broadway was a tough one.
He tells USA Today, "That's the story of my life. First nobody thought of me for (the movie role of) Rocky. Then no one could see it for Broadway... I always saw it as a very romantic story, a people's love story. The characters have so much inside themselves that they can't express, and I thought that music could be a way to get it out... Everyone thought it was absurd."
The actor goes on to praise the producers behind the show for taking a risk and backing his project, adding, "They each took a tremendous leap of faith, and they've seen things in these characters that even I didn't. They're all Rocky stories, if you think about it - they've put in all this time on something that everyone had said couldn't work."
When asked whether he is considering bringing any more of his films to the stage, Stallone jokes, "I think Rambo could be a real hit. Could you imagine? He'd come in and shoot the whole audience. No, I don't think so. This is it. Rocky is the one."

Image Entertainment via Everett Collection
Dean Koontz has really struck a gold mine with the character of Odd Thomas: a young out-of-work fry cook in the fictional Californian town of Pico Mundo who has the ability to see and communicate with the dead. Koontz has written seven novels starring Thomas (using the character more than any other protagonist) as well as a graphic novel. And now, Odd Thomas is setting up to hit the big screen. The film will be based the eponymous first novel to feature Odd Thomas, with Anton Yelchin playing the character and Willem Dafoe playing his friend Chief Wyatt Porter. 50 Cent is listed as a cast member too, which should make it interesting.
What makes Thomas so different from the other heroes from Koontz's books is his humility and willingness to poke fun at himself, and we're hoping this, more than anything, carries through in the film. Read any of the Odd Thomas novels and you'll pick up a definite sense of self-deprecation. He freely admits that he's just an ordinary person trying not to get killed by bad guys while he also tries to better understand his ability. This is why people have really latched onto the character and his girlfriend Stormy (though Koontz still has the trouble of picking good names for the people in his books), and it's an element that needs to be present for a screen adaptation to work.
Another favorite feature of the books: dead celebrities. In the stories, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Alfred Hitchcock show up to see if the young man can discern exactly what it is that killed them and how they can cross over to the other side. I didn't see anybody listed on the cast page for roles like that, so I'm hoping for an uncredited appearance. Not having these people show up would be as bad as leaving the gods out of Troy... and we all know how THAT went.
There have been several stabs at Koontz novels: Phantoms with Rose McGowan, Ben Affleck, and Liev Schreiber. Hideaway with Jeff Goldblum. Sole Survivor with Billy Zane. Something just seemed off with these adaptations on the big screen, though; the spirit of the novels weren't really captured. The characters in those books never seemed to leap off the page the way Thomas does. In fairness, there was a good TV movie adaptation of Intensity, which had a pre-Dr. Cox John C. McGinley as a homicidal murderer who also happened to be a police chief. But we're hoping for "great" with Odd Thomas.
Koontz has not had as much luck in the celluloid world as the person he's most compared to, Stephen King. It hasn't seemed to bother him as he continues to write what seems like two books or more a year. After several years in limbo thanks to dueling production companies, we'd like to see Odd Thomas really take proper form on the big screen.
Odd Thomas hits theaters on February 28.
Follow @Hollywood_com
//
Follow @literateartist
//

Synopsis

Five friends living in New York watch their friendships and relationships evolve through three different eras: 1993, 2001 and 2008.

We meet the group in 1993, post-college, at a lively East Village party thrown by Athena Barnes, an aspiring actress. Among the guests is Gregory Paget, a young intellectual critic and wannabe filmmaker. Gregory is there with his roommates, Josh Adler, son of a real estate tycoon, and Joe Rivera, a burgeoning young lawyer. Beth Greenway, a schoolteacher, knows Athena from yoga class but is a stranger to the rest of them. Quick to notice beautiful women, Josh and Joe spot Beth immediately and begin the battle for her heart. When a gunman crashes the party, the night goes awry and seals their fates as friends and lovers.

By 2001, Joe and Beth are married and have a three-year-old son. Joe is a successful Madison Avenue lawyer, and Beth is a professional wife and mother. Josh, still secretly pining for Beth, is a real estate developer with a soft spot for hookers. Athena is a well-known Broadway actress. Gregory has given up his dream of being a filmmaker and has instead become a columnist who is now sleeping with men. Through it all, they've remained close friends, celebrating successes while helping each other through rough spots as they learn that wealth and good fortune often lead to a whole other series of complications.

Seven years later, in 2008, Gregory is a therapist and is happily involved with Detective Patrick Logan. Athena's star has faded and she remains single, except for the company of her drug addiction. Joe is an aspiring politician and he and Beth are now divorced. Beth, battling the early stages of blindness, is a best-selling author and is expecting her second child. She has married Josh who is now the chef and owner of a new downtown bistro.